Cheap Trick Drummer: I’m Still In the Band, but I Don’t Talk to Them

If you don’t tour with a group and never talk to your bandmates anymore, are you still actually in the band? According to Cheap Trick drummer Bun E Carlos … yes.

Two years ago, Cheap Trick replaced Carlos as their touring drummer with guitarist Rick Nielsen’s son Daxx — that’s the lineup that’s touring with Aerosmith this summer. And even though Carlos hasn’t had any communication with anyone in the band, he still considers himself part of the group.

“I’m still in the band, but I don’t tour. I don’t hear from them,” he told Punk Globe. “I prefer to be out on the road performing with them. Maybe we’ll kiss and make up.”

Groups sometimes tour and record with different musicians, but we’ve gotta say Carlos’s reconciliation hopes seem optimistic — especially since he doesn’t think Cheap Trick will ever release another album.

“I don’t see a next Cheap Trick record, really. I haven’t heard any new songs from the songwriters in 10 years,” he said. “Every album we do, we get the tapes out and find out if we have enough for a record. We made [2009's] ‘The Latest’ the same way we make every record — but there weren’t very many brand-new songs laid out … I really like recording new songs, but I don’t think that’s going to happen with those guys.”

Carlos is Cheap Trick’s archivist, so over the years he’s released several recordings known to fans as “Bun E’s Basement Bootlegs.” The drummer says he has enough material for 10 more such collections but adds, “I haven’t heard from anyone in a couple years, so I don’t think they’re really interested.”

You can read the rest of this highly enlightening interview right here.